The invention relates, generally, to pinball games and, more particularly, to a ball advancer for such games. Pinball games typically include an inclined playfield supporting a rolling ball and a plurality of play features such as ramps, targets, bumpers and the like. The player manipulates flippers mounted on the playfield to direct the ball at selected play features thereby to control play of the game.
Because the popularity of a manufacturer's line of games depends on its ability to produce new and interesting play features, numerous play features for pinball games have been designed to control the movement of the balls over the playfield. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,291 discloses a ball accelerator that uses electromagnetic coils to accelerate a ferromagnetic ball in a pinball game. U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,748 discloses a ball lifter for a pinball game that uses a magnet propelled by a reversing screw to transfer the ball from the inclined playfield to a second vertical playfield.
In addition to these devices, other amusement games have also used magnets to alter the travel of the ball on the playfield. For example, in baseball-type amusement games, player controlled electromagnets mounted below the playfield have been used to create a "curve ball". Pinball games have also used magnets mounted below the playfield to make a ball travel across the playfield to permit a player to try and knock the ball off of the magnets to create multiple ball play as disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/079,074, filed Aug. 5, 1993, assigned to the present assignee.
A player controlled electromagnet has been used adjacent the drain lanes to prevent a ball from entering the drain hole (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,725). In this play feature, the magnet is energized for an extended period when the player presses a button thereby to stop and hold the ball. Also, a player controlled electromagnet has been used to redirect and propel a pinball toward targets provided in an area associated with the playfield as disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/021,223, filed on Feb. 23, 1993, assigned to the present assignee.
While numerous play features have been developed to control the movement of a pinball, none have used a processor controlled electromagnet for precise movement of the ball across the playfield in a pre-determined and controlled manner for pure entertainment purposes.